« The Creative Potential of Artificial Intelligence »

Article written by Jeanne Burin des Roziers and Apolline Monpouet, students of the Culture and Cultural Policy and Management streams at the School of Public Affairs of Sciences Po. 

>On the 13th of April 2022, as part of the School of Public Affairs' Culture Masterclasses, students from the School, and from Sciences Po, had the chance to discuss with three key players the challenges posed by artificial intelligence to the world of art and artistic creation: Obvious collective, a trio of artists whose works are produced using various artificial intelligence processes, Marine Van Schoonbeek, co-founder and managing director of Thanks For Nothing and La Collective and Agnès Perpitch, a gallery owner specialising in contemporary art and a consultant on the subject.  

Artificial intelligence is still a somewhat mysterious new technology in the eyes of the general public, but it opens up creative potential that is reshuffling the cards on artistic creation, the status of the artist and the dynamics of the art market. While new horizons are opening up for artists, galleries and collectors, the use of algorithms in the creation of works of art nevertheless raises social and environmental questions, which our interlocutors sought to clarify. Here is a look back at a fascinating discussion, which allowed everyone to question the future of artistic practices. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A TOOL FOR CREATIVE EXPLORATION 

 According to the Obvious collective, algorithms and artificial intelligence are a means to an end. Tools that may be disruptive, disturbing, or even shocking to a society that is still largely unfamiliar with these new technologies and has yet to acclimatise to them, but these new instruments should be mobilised in a broader perspective. The artistic creation of the trio of artists is above all based on an idea, a purpose, a questioning that AI could put into shape, there is a meaning behind these works, and the use of technology is not gratuitous. In fact, the use of machine learning is, from the outset, a questioning of our vision of the artist's work. In this sense, the work of the Obvious collective also seeks to highlight algorithms in their practical functions, to make known the potentialities that they allow, and to dive, by this means, into the subjects that interest them. Their series of works on the Seven Wonders of the World thus allows them to question the question of a collective imagination: the image produced by their algorithm is nourished by the visual and textual representations that have been made of them over the centuries. It is therefore a re-actualisation of a painting subject that has been overused in the past and a renewal of the classical iconographic canon. 

 In fact, many of the algorithms that Obvious works with involve using existing visual data as the basis for artificial intelligence. The trio thus asks the question: if I observe hundreds of houses and draw one after the fact, do the architects get the credit? Their status as artists is not in doubt, despite persistent remarks suggesting that it would be "enough" to make an algorithm work in open-source. To this, Obvious replies that these same critics have prevented photography for a century from being considered an art and that the idea that it would be "enough" to press a button to be a photographer should be definitively rejected. Thus, they legitimately assert their role as creators and insist on the reflective approach that underlies their work. 

OPENING UP THE DEBATE

From the ironic name of their collective "Obvious" to the use of mathematical formulas as signatures, the artists' mission is to provoke reflection on the place of artificial intelligence in art. Through their work, they hope to produce "emotions for the brain more than for the heart" in the viewers, by encouraging them to question the meaning of their reactions to the new technologies inscribed in a creative process. These tools are the ground for their conceptual ideas, and can contribute to important changes in society. This is what they are doing with the Marianne project, which aims to create a representative portrait of today's French woman through the compilation of thousands of photos of anonymous people. Thanks to subjects in line with current events, they are helping to raise awareness among an increasingly diverse range of citizens so that they take up the theme of art and digital.                                                                                                

As part of this dynamic of art as a reflection of the life of the city, Marine Van Schoonbeeck pays particular attention to the exchanges between artists, associative actors and visitors. The specialist will soon be exhibiting her thoughts at the heart of the new art centre La Collective (the former St Paul's Hospital building), a new generation establishment that goes beyond the cultural democratisation and decentralisation movements characteristic of the 20th century to push open the door to the 21st century by tackling contemporary issues (social, environmental, etc.). This is why NGOs and associations (such as Emmaus refuge for women) will occupy the same place as the artists in this project, both literally and figuratively, with each part having 200m2. Arts centres that are therefore modernising themselves to become real living spaces integrated into their territory. This transformation will be, as we can guess, indispensable in the future, aiming to inform on the artistic practices and visions of the emanations of the field. For example, the urgency of climate change is pushing Obvious to integrate the environmental footprint of its tools to make its practice more responsible by restricting itself to producing only a limited number of works. However, the artists remain optimistic about the power of collective research to find solutions to the high energy consumption of digital technology, despite the scale of the problems.  

THE ART WORLD IN FLUX

On the subject of another type of technology at the heart of contemporary art news, NFTs, each of the guests agrees on their disruptive potential. Thanks to digital freedom, artists and buyers are freeing themselves from the codes of the art world. They democratise access to new players who feel more legitimate to invest in this segment, following the example of American tech figures. The emergence of a new way of collecting, collectively to support an artist's career, is revolutionising the relationship to buying in the art market, which has traditionally been more individual.                                                                                                                   

These trends are carefully studied by the players in the field, first and foremost the auction houses, which, far from being conservative, are guiding the market towards new technologies. Christie's interest in NFTs and Sotheby's metaverse are creating bridges to digital, followed by galleries (such as Kamel Mennour, which exhibited Obvious), the majority of which remain cautious. Not all the players represent this movement: some art fairs remain disconnected from this fundamental trend, marking a paradox between the public's interest in new technologies, particularly NFTs, and their absence from the stands. Nevertheless, Agnès Perpitch reassures us that the art world will not become entirely dematerialised. Galleries represent a key point of contact, guaranteeing security in a market that is sometimes perceived as troubled, both for buyers, for whom the experience of the "physicality" of the work is irreplaceable, and for artists, whom professionals guide in their careers. Their intermediation is a major support, and the trend is therefore towards a hybrid model integrating non-physical rooms and works.

In short, the art world and its actors are now at a major turning point: "There is a world before and a world after the integration of new technologies into the creative process", according to Agnès Perpitch. Art and digital technology are merging to combine reality and fantasy in ever more impressive works.

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